“The technology will keep improving ”
GARY VERMAAK CONSULTANT AND ECOSYSTEM DEVELOPER
One of the projects with a longer pedigree and backing from Google co-founder Larry Page , is Kittyhawk . This is a single-person , remotely-piloted electric aircraft that hopes to make flying taxis affordable , ubiquitous and eco-conscious . Founder Sebastian Thrun aims to build an aircraft that can be mass produced at automotive scale and cost , and the H2 can fly up to 100 miles on a single charge , at 180mph .
As Kittyhawk says , “ if you want the greenest electric aviation measured in power used per mile , be small , have a wing , don ’ t have an onboard pilot and land anywhere . That ’ s the Kittyhawk model !”.
Vermaak comments that while the single seater Kittyhawk claims to be more efficient than a Tesla Model S , it would not be more efficient than a comparable EV , such as an electric motorbike .
“ The technology will keep improving and we are certain to see the first autonomous civilian cargo aircraft operations in Europe and the US , and we may see the Civil Aviation Administration of China ( CAAC ) allowing commercial passenger flying taxi operations in dedicated UAM flight lanes in some Chinese cities ,” concludes Vermaak , while adding that public perception will be a significant barrier to uptake .
That may be true , but consider these facts . The aviation industry has a target to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 , but there are currently no commercially available methods to do this . In 2019 the sector produced around 1Gt of CO2e , accounting for 2 % of annual global CO2 emissions . That number is set to more than double by 2050 .
While the answer to how the aviation industry meets the public ’ s insatiable appetite for travel while meeting net-zero targets is a multi-layered one , UAM could provide a slice of the solution .
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